nature in Villenave

Everyone in France dresses better than me, including the kids. I'm okay with that. So Thursday, when I arrived to class wearing my non skinny legged black pants with flats, and saw most of the kids wearing skinny jeans/leggings tucked into boots, I thought little of it. I walked on into the classroom. Then I saw the teacher putting on her coat. She looked at me and said what I long ago realized is the actual motto of France (none of the "liberty, equality, fraternity" nonsense). "Oh...Laura...I meant to call (email can also be substituted here) you" She went on to say that the kids were going on a little field trip that afternoon. Since my only other class of the afternoon was also going on the field trip, it was decided that I would accompany the 2 teachers, 4 parents, and 52 8 year olds on their outing. The teacher told me what the purpose of the outing was, but I didn't exactly understand. It was something to do with megaliths. All I really knew was that this meant I could reuse the day's lesson plans on Friday. Awesome.
I went outside to where the kids were lined up in pairs. In one hand they each held a folder with a map and a highlighter or pencil and most had a camera. In the other hand, they held the hand of the person next to them. We were not even out of the schoolyard before the kids started dropping pencils, highlighters, papers, folders, jackets, backpacks, etc. Then, a few short blocks into our walk, the small patch of blue sky gave way to the black clouds and torrential downpour started. Momentarily forgetting where I was (although I am not sure how I could, since if we were in the US the kids would not have been walking in the first place. They would have been on a school bus), I assumed that this rain would mean we would turn around. Nope. Not a single kid had an umbrella. Some had raincoats, most did not. They continued walking. They soon were soaking wet, muddy, and carrying soaking wet folders and cameras. Despite the rain, they still stopped periodically and took pictures of things they thought were representative of nature in Villenave d'Ornon. This included things like street signs and bulldozers. At a few points during our trek, we walked by the houses of students. One girl's mom, dad, and grandma were standing at the window waving. It was super cute.
After about 45 minutes of walking, we arrived at our destination. It was a park full of megaliths. The kids immediately took off running around the park, taking pictures, climbing on the rocks, throwing things, and so on. The girl whose family waved to us explained to me that she lived close to the park, so she knew it well. Then she took me by the hand and showed me where some giant mushrooms were growing. Then she told me that her dog died and they buried it at the park. Sad.
The kids were running around at the park for a good 40 minutes, then we walked back to school. Apparently the teachers thought this warranted a break, because once back at school, the kids got a 15 minute recess that they spent running around. Oh France.
I liked going on the outing with the students, but a little warning would have been nice. My black shoes are covered in leaves and mud, as are the bottoms of my black pants. Despite using an umbrella, I was still soaking wet and freezing the rest of the afternoon. And I am not actually sure why I was on the field trip. The teachers thought it would be a good chance for the kids to practice English with me. A nice idea, except the kids only know about 10 words of English. And walking in the pouring rain is not the best environment for practicing "What is your name?" "How are you?" "What is your favorite color?" etc. So instead, I was there to give the kids a chance to take pictures of the foreigner and ask me questions (in French) like "Do you have any friends in Bordeaux?" to which I replied (in English) "Oh, I don't understand French. Sorry" One of the mother chaperons heard me say this and said "Are you friends have in Bordeaux?"